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 WHCrenku - New Year's Kasen



Children's Laughter
a New Year's kasen

by Christopher Herold
and Carol O'Dell
Port Townsend, WA, US

12-30-99 -- 9/19/01


 

New Year's eve-
the laughter of children
heedless of time

ch

as he swallows champagne
his Adam's apple bobs

co'd

the tickle
of hot-tub
bubbles

ch

shiatsu
with aroma therapy

co'd

a farmer ploughs
moonlight and manure
into the fallow field

ch

again her chrysanthemums
win the blue ribbon

co'd


the hollow tree
holds a huge cache
of acorns

co'd

hope chest flung open
you hold up something skimpy

ch

suckling my baby
I haggle over price
with another John

co'd

not a tear as he's plunged
into the River Jordan

ch

at last
the Nomads and their camels
reach an oasis

co'd

the brief hush
before dusk

ch

by the end of the show
smoke from fireworks
hides the moon

co'd

along a rain forest road
hovels covered with dust

ch

swinging in a cage
the parakeet
sings to its reflection

co'd

dwarves gone, the wicked witch
has come to kill Snow White

ch

on the table
plum petals
from the bonsai

co'd

talk about twisted minds!
your elaborate April Fool's joke

ch


lance lowered
Don Quixote
charges a windmill

ch

after the argument
she leaves with his credit card

co'd

visa revoked
I radio for a flight
from this third world island
ch

surrounded by aquariums
they share a tuna sandwich

co'd

ice
seals the cracks
between boardwalk planks

ch

breath white, he paces
the drafty prison cell

co'd

across the bar
our eyes meet
for a long moment

co'd

a power failure is
the perfect excuse for candles

ch

under a blanket
under the stars
they see stars

co'd

Hollywood paparazzi
do they ever sleep?

ch

suddenly the moon
through a small aperture
in the overcast

ch

she pulls guts out
from the top of the pumpkin

co'd


every year at this time
oldies stations play
The Monster Mash

ch

Noritake china
inherited from grandma

co'd

by the garden pond
sipping tea
and linking verses

ch

he shifts his weight
on the wooden bench

co'd

the transparency
of fallen cherry petals
in the rain

ch

butterflies alight
then whirl away

co'd

 



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